A pair of third-period goals from PJ Buys broke a 3-3 tie and helped the Trinity Western Spartans begins the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League season with a split against the defending league champions.
The Spartans were in Castlegar to face the Selkirk Saints, with the hosts winning 6-3 on the Friday night.
But Buys scored a hat trick the next night to lead his team to a 5-3 victory.
"The boys played an excellent 60 minutes," said Spartans coach Barret Kropf.
"We're just making sure we are putting in full efforts because that's how it has to be all season.
"The parity in the league is so phenomenal and so we have to make sure we're ready to compete for 60 minutes every night and tonight we did that."
Brett Wur and Mattias Schmitt had the other Spartan goals while Selkirk struck for three goals — one apiece from Ryan Sookro, Nathan Browne and Dallas Calvin — all on the power play.
Silas Matthys stopped 30 shots for the win.
In the first game, Trinity Western was up 2-1 after 20 minutes but surrendered three goals in the middle period to lose 6-3.
Andrew Wheeler, Matthew Vela and Buys had the goals.
Calvin led the Saints with three goals.
The Spartans play their home opener on Saturday (Oct. 10) when they host the SFU Clan at the Langley Events Centre.